This study describes the origins of early Reformed confessional development using the example of those congregations of religious refugees most heavily influenced by John Laski: the congregation at Emden and the Dutch and French Strangers’ Churches in London. At its center are questions about the congregation as the location of ecclesiology. The outlines of Laski’s theology--which viewed the congregation as the communion of the body of Christ--are described in comparison to the approaches of other Reformers and in relationship to daily reality in the second half of the sixteenth century. Working from a rich base of source materials, the author discusses the development of teachings on church offices and the practice of church discipline, thus illuminating the self-understanding of the three congregations. Becker shows how reciprocal influences and attempts to conform led to the unification of doctrine and community life within these congregations.

This collection of essays looks at the shared experience of exile across different groups in the early modern period. Contributors argue that exile is a useful analytical tool in the study of a wide variety of peoples previously examined in isolation.

Scholars have associated Calvinism with print and literary cultures, with republican, liberal, and participatory political cultures, with cultures of violence and vandalism, enlightened cultures, cultures of social discipline, secular cultures, and with the emergence of capitalism. Reflecting on these arguments, the essays in this volume recognize that Reformed Protestantism did not develop as a uniform tradition but varied across space and time. The authors demonstrate that multiple iterations of Calvinism developed and impacted upon differing European communities that were experiencing social and cultural transition. They show how these different forms of Calvinism were shaped by their adherents and opponents, and by the divergent political and social contexts in which they were articulated and performed. Recognizing that Reformed Protestantism developed in a variety of cultural settings, this volume analyzes the ways in which it related to the multi-confessional cultural environment that prevailed in Europe after the Reformation.